Certain beverage preparation machines use capsules containing ingredients to be extracted or to be dissolved; for other machines, the ingredients are stored and dosed automatically in the machine or else are added at the time of preparation of the drink.
Most beverage machines possess within a housing: filling means that include a pump for liquid, usually water, which pumps the liquid from a source of water that is cold or indeed heated through heating means, such as a heating resistor, a boiler, a thermoblock or the like, a brewing unit in which an ingredient is brewed with water or a mixing unit in which ingredients are mixed together, and a beverage outlet for dispensing the prepared beverage. Typically, the beverage outlet is located above a beverage dispensing zone, e.g. above a grid for supporting a cup or other recipient under the outlet and for the passage of drops of liquid from the beverage outlet or other spills into a collector tray located under the grid.
For example, EP 1 440 639 discloses a beverage machine comprising a receptacle stand having a hollow interior forming a drip tray. An upper surface of the receptacle stand is provided with a grill on which the receptacle is positioned. The drip tray is removable from the housing to ease emptying of the collected water. Drip tray devices with cup supports are well known in the art. There are also such devices that are further arranged for allowing the adjustment of the vertical position under the beverage outlet of cups of different sizes. Examples of arrangements in this field are disclosed in CA 2,260,352, EP 0 549 887, EP 1 731 065, EP 1 867 260, FR 2 439 042, U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,455, 5,353,692, WO 2009/074557.
WO 2012/072758 and WO 2013/127907 disclose beverage machines having a beverage guide located downstream an ingredient processing module that includes a first beverage path to a serving locating and a second beverage path to a service location. The module has a downstream part that is movable between an ingredient processing position and an ingredient insertion/evacuation position, the downstream part being coordinated with the beverage guide so that the beverage is directed to the service location when the downstream part in in the ingredient insertion/evacuation position and to the serving location when the downstream part is in the ingredient processing position. To reliably stop the dripping to the serving location at the end of the ingredient processing, the downstream part should be brought to the ingredient insertion/evacuation position at the end of beverage serving. Such an improved operation thus requires an automatic actuation of the downstream part controlled by the machine and thus a motorization or other automatic actuation of the downstream part is desirable or at least an advantage.
WO 2006/050769 discloses a beverage preparation machine with a vertically movable cup support located under the machine's beverage outlet and a drop collector arm that is pivotable under the beverage outlet for collecting drops upon beverage dispensing. The drop collector is motorized and automatically moved away from the beverage outlet when a cup is detected under the outlet by a dedicated sensor and is moved back when the beverage processing is stopped. The electric motor of the collector is controlled by a controller connected to this cup sensor which controls also the beginning and a premature end of the beverage preparation and dispensing (due to an early removal of the cup). In an alternative embodiment, the drop collector is simply pushed out of the collecting position by a cup placed under the outlet and allowed back to the collecting position by the removal of the cup (mechanical cup sensor and drop stop actuation). In a further embodiment it is suggested to actuate the drop collector via the machine's pump hydraulically instead of electrically (coordination of the drop collector with the activity of the pump).
To avoid the use of a drop collector and corresponding actuation thereof between a collecting configuration and a dispensing configuration, it has been proposed in WO 2011/067264 to release the pressure upstream the beverage outlet and beverage preparation unit via a deviation valve so that evacuation of the residual pressurised liquid in the machine via the beverage outlet is minimised.